


A Room Full of Stars

by cherrylng



Category: Coldplay (Band), Muse (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Constellations, Fluff, Humor, Indie Music, Introspection, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Star-crossed, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 04:10:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5813545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrylng/pseuds/cherrylng
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chris gets his friends together to help him make something to impress his boyfriend coming to visit from Exeter. Fluff ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Room Full of Stars

** **

 

 **February 1998**  
   
“Chris, tell me again on why you want to do this?”  
   
“I told you guys. It’s a little project of mine.”  
   
Jonny stares at Chris and then down at the finished origami star in his hands. Huffing, he tosses the finished product to a nearby pile and picks up a new paper to be folded into another one.  
   
It’s a nice Wednesday evening where the four of them are rehearsing some new songs that they’re trying out. Their rehearsal only lasted for an hour before they got bored of it and started a conversation instead. They’ve already played as Starfish, once, before they all agreed that they needed a better band name to stick on permanently than just being called as Starfish. The search for a new band name is still in continuity and was part of the conversation.  
   
They were planning to go down to a nearby pub to watch football and have a few pints when Chris pulls out a bunch of white paper from his bag and put it on the floor. When he starts folding a few papers into stars, naturally it got the rest of them curious. When he got their attention at what he is doing, Chris asks if they are willing to help in return for beer and marijuana. Since they don’t have much to do, they all agreed to do it.  
   
“How did you learn how to make origami stars?”  
   
“I got Denise from Biochemistry to teach me.”  
   
So here they are, sitting on the floor in Jonny’s bedroom, making origami stars and tossing the finished ones to a stack nearby. Their flatmate, Tim, is lucky to have escaped elsewhere rather than getting stuck doing this.  
   
“What’s this little project of yours again?”  
   
“Making a bunch of paper stars and then attach LEDs and wires to it to hang around my bedroom.”  
   
“Is this why you got Milosz from Engineering invited to the rehearsal today?” Jonny points his thumb at a Polish guy busy setting up some lightings with LEDs, wiring, and some electrical components that Jonny has no clue what they are called. Milosz is very concentrated in his little corner with setting up the other important part of Chris’ plans when he could’ve just go and buy a box of fairy lights and save him time from making his own.  
   
Compared to Milosz’s job, however, this is not the most arduous project to be done by them, since it’s just helping Chris to fold and make a bunch of origami stars. Easy to do once they’re all taught how to do it. But Jonny’s pretty sure that this project that Chris is doing has nothing to do with his schoolwork or for their band.  
   
Well, now that he thinks about it, having handmade origami stars would make for a really cool setup if they are allowed to do it in a pub venue. It would draw a crowd in to see their show, be dazzled by glowing paper stars, _and_ enjoy their music to come back for more.  
   
“I did promised a bag of weed for him after all this is done if he helps me with this,” Chris says.  
   
“You mean you promised _me_ a bag of weed,” Jonny says, glaring.  
   
“I promised you both a bag of weed that you can share,” Chris quickly reiterates and Jonny leaves it at that. He knows he can keep an eye on Chris to make sure that he buys more than enough that sharing will not be an issue.  
   
“Chris, what is the point of us making origami stars?” Will asks, his patience of waiting for an answer finally at the end of its line. “I seriously doubt that this has anything to do with a stage setup. Why is this so important that you asked us to help you to do this with promises of marijuana and beer?”  
   
Three men staring at Chris long and hard enough finally gets him to relent and tell them the truth.  
   
“I’m using to decorate my room. It’s for someone coming this Friday from Exeter,” Chris says, looking away.  
   
Wolf whistles were called out at him and Jonny pats Chris on the back.  
   
“Found a girl that you fancied, Chrissy boy?” Jonny smirks.  
   
“What’s her name?” Milosz asked from his little corner, shocking the four of them and reminding them that the Polish engineering student is still there.  
   
Chris doesn't say anything at first, but the longer he does that the more they keep prodding at him until he relents. He says in a low voice, “His name is Matt.”  
   
A pause.  
   
The sounds of papers being rustled have stopped, and their attention is turned onto Chris. For a moment Chris is worried of their response to what he said until they suddenly burst out laughing.  
   
“You need to raise your voice there, Chris,” Guy chortles.  
   
“I’m sure that you said her name is Matilda, which doesn’t sound so bad of a name,” Will says.  
   
“I said, _his_ name is _Matthew_ ,” Chris repeats in a louder volume this time, stressing out the words.  
   
Another pause. They heard him loud and clear enough to have not misheard him. Even Milosz from his little corner heard it and stopped fiddling with the electrical components to look at Chris.  
   
“So you’re dating a guy,” Will says.  
   
“Yep.”  
   
“And we’re here making origami stars to help you impress a guy.”  
   
“Well, once we’re done, maybe we can… use it as our stage setup?” Chris hesitates. His hesitation turns into exasperation at the questioning looks thrown at him. “Are you all mad at me for pulling you all into this or do you have problems with me having a boyfriend? What the hell is wrong with all of you?”  
   
At that, paper stars are thrown at Chris, who didn’t have time to avoid getting some pelted at his face.  
   
“Dude, we’re not some bigots,” Will says, offended like the rest of them of being questioned of his principles. “Who you date is none of our business unless it affects us negatively. But since you’re doing all this effort to impress him, we might as well help finish it.”  
   
“I thought you were all acting homophobic and shit. I didn’t know what else to expect-- Wait, you’ll really help me do this?” Chris blinks.  
   
Voices of approval and nods are seen by Chris.  
   
“Well, yeah. Plus, you said you owe us beer and weed tonight once we’re done with all of this,” Guy quips.  
   
“Wow… thank you,” Chris grins. “Tell you what, I’ll buy a crate of beer rather than a sixpack and call up the dealer that sells the good quality weed, okay?”  
   
With their morale boosted by the promise, they tackle on the pile of papers to finish up on making the stars.  
   
“Hey Milosz, how’s the lighting so far?” Jonny calls at the engineering student still at his little corner.  
   
“About sixty percent done!” Milosz says with enthusiasm, holding up a set of wirings with LED lights attached to its ends. And they just believe him anyways, since they can’t tell how many of the lightings are done when counted in percentage.  
   
\-----  
   
It takes them about two or three hours to finish it up. All the stars have been made and attached to the wires. Milosz’s lights all work and are declared safe by the man himself. What’s left of Chris’ plan is for his boyfriend to arrive from Exeter. For the present time, however, Chris has fulfilled his end of the promise to his friends for helping him out.  
   
The beer that Chris bought from a nearby Tesco wasn't that good, but considering that almost all of them are students with the budget to match it and Chris used most of the money to buy from a dealer that sells the promised good quality weed for Jonny and Milosz, it is more than worth it.  
   
Currently, Jonny and Milosz are lazily passing a joint back and forth between each other to get a few hits while the others enjoy their cans of beer.  
   
“So how did meet this Matt guy anyways?” Guy asks Chris, sipping his drink.  
   
Chris tells his story. “Well, I went back to Exeter during the summer last year. I met him when his band was performing in the Cavern Club around July. After the show, I offered to buy them drinks and we talked. I asked their drummer on where their next gig is, so a couple of weeks later, I was in Plymouth watching their show again.”  
   
“What’s the name of his band?” Will asks out of curiosity.  
   
“It’s called Muse. Matt’s their singer and guitarist. They’re a really great indie band from where I live. They mostly play in the Southwest, sometimes they come to London to play. Last year they even got to play in France,” Chris says with enthusiasm almost close to gushing.  
   
“So how did you end up dating him?”  
   
“I just followed the band around until they let me carpool with them to their gigs, help them out, got to know more and talk to Matt, and bob’s your uncle,” Chris finishes with a shrug.  
   
“Sounds like you followed him around whenever and wherever his band is playing,” Jonny says with a teasing smile. “Sounds like what a stalking fan would do.”  
   
“Fuck off, Jonny,” Chris pushes the guitarist. Jonny giggles in response, the effects of the marijuana making him feel a bit stoned.  
   
“Do you have something like a tape from them?” Will interrupts the banter between the two of them. “If they’re good enough that you followed the band around after seeing them perform and they got to play in France, you got to at least have something to prove it.”  
   
Chris nods. “Yes. Matt gave a demo tape to me and I have it in my room.”  
   
“Well, what are you waiting for? Go and get it!”  
   
Acting on Will’s prompt, Chris disappears off and returns with a cassette tape in his hand. With anticipation, Chris slips the tape into Jonny’s boombox and press ‘play’.  
   
Forty five minutes later, there are various different reactions from the five men in the room when the last song finishes.  
   
“Holy shit,” Jonny says, blinking.  
   
“Wow,” Will and Guy each say at different times.  
   
“This Muse band is good. Really good,” Milosz says appreciatively. The Polish had been banging his head and tapping his foot to the whole recording.  
   
Chris -having listened to the demo tape a few times before- enjoyed it much like Milosz did, head banging and feet tapping. He is happy that someone has readily liked it.  
   
On the other hand, there are three men who listen to it for the first time and have been shocked into silence since the first song played.  
   
If they are music journalists with the ability to put critique into it, they can easily describe the demo tape showing Muse to be what an indie band is like. The music that Muse plays is violent, but breathtaking. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on which side you pick on, they aren’t music journalists.  
   
What they are, however, are young men with inclinations towards music, and each of them can pick out and rate the skills of those behind their respective instruments. They can also tell that Matt was probably picked out among the band and put on the position of a frontman as based on the demo recording, he hasn’t been coached to give him a more varied tones in his singing.  
   
Despite the falsetto vocals that Matt possesses and how it bounces over the place occasionally, his voice is nonetheless solid throughout the whole demo and complements well with the music. Although this is a demo tape rather than a proper EP or album, the one word that screams in all of their heads is ‘promising’. Muse is a promising band.  
   
Even in their inebriated state, they now understand why this indie band from Devon caught Chris’ attention. They can’t wait to meet this mysterious singer that captivated Chris and now themselves.  
   
\-----  
   
Friday afternoon is where Chris has no classes at that time and Matt had confirmed to him which train that he took and its estimation of arrival. He looks up at the announcement board and then at the platform where the train that Matt is in will arrive sooner or later to Paddington Station.  
   
“Chris, the train won't come any faster even if you use your mind powers to control the train,” Jonny calls him out from the bench that he is sitting on.  
   
“It’s been snowing along the route,” Chris says tersely, reminding Jonny of how the weather has been worse outside of London. “There are delays and cancelled schedules. What if something happened on the rails and he can’t call me to tell me about it?”  
   
“You’ve seen the announcement board so many times that you should’ve also seen that it says that the train’s on time to arrive in a few minutes,” Jonny deadpans.  
   
“The train’s here!” Chris exclaims. Jonny decides to keep quiet from how Chris didn’t pay attention to him and stands up to join alongside his best friend.  
   
The train has come to a stop and people started coming out of the carriages. While Chris is scanning the crowd, Jonny just blankly stares. After all, it’s not like he knows what Matt looks like.  
   
“I see him!”  
   
“Which one is him?”  
   
“He’s the one with the guitar case.”  
   
When Jonny finally spots where Chris is pointing, he stares at the approaching man before he says this. "Dude, not to offend you but I thought he would be as handsome as Guy, not less."  
   
The punch on his arm that Chris gives to him in response was appropriate and Jonny rightfully deserved it.  
   
\-----  
   
Blue eyes are staring out at the window. He isn’t looking at the outside world that is speeding by to enjoy the view, for the view is that of tall walls and terraced houses dirtied by years of accumulated dirt and grime. He is far more preoccupied at what is running through in his mind.  
   
This isn’t the first time that Matt has come to London before. However, this _is_ his first time coming to London all by himself. It doesn’t scare him, though. He’s nineteen now and can pretty much go anywhere to his liking as a young adult.  
   
It all seems a bit silly for him to take a train to London to meet his boyfriend of all things, even Dom would’ve agreed. But Chris got him enamoured as much he captivated Chris and his heart.  
   
His lips crook up into a grin as he reminisces on how he met Chris.  
   
Matt is familiar with the Cavern Club, from its owners to the audiences that would regularly come and see them. On the summer of July, a tall, curly-haired young man stood out to him like a sore thumb and someone that Matt had never seen among the regular crowd before. Whenever Matt dares to look at the audience, the taller man never strayed his eyes away from him.  
   
There was something that intrigued Matt of this weird curly-haired man, appearing about the same age as him, looking at him as though he is something extraordinary. The tall young man reminded Matt of a lost puppy, and the puppy decided that little blue-eyed singer on the stage can be its new master.  
   
After the show, the Pup -as Matt decided to call the yet unknown man- approached Matt, introduced himself, and offered to buy him and the rest of the band a drink. How can they say no to someone willing to pay for their alcohol?  
   
They talked, learned that he is studying in a university in London, had a good time, thanked Chris for buying them drinks, and packed up to go home. Matt doesn’t expect much out of that first meeting. To him, he’d just met a friendly guy who likes their music enough to buy them refreshments and possibly will come back to the Cavern to see them perform.  
   
A couple of weeks later in a pub venue in Plymouth, Matt is surprised when he sees Chris standing in the crowd. The second time around he isn’t staring blatantly at Matt and is more enjoying the show, but Matt can tell that his attention is still mainly on him. Again, Chris offers to buy drinks for them when the show is over, and they gratefully accept it.  
   
When they chatted and get to know each other a bit more, Matt is surprised to learn that Chris is over a year older than him. So he is not a puppy then by his older age status, but he still acts like one so much that Matt disregards the former. The other thing he learned about Chris is that he sings and plays guitar and piano - much like Matt does.  
   
By the third time that Matt spots Chris once again in the crowd while playing in a pub in the seaside town of Torquay, the singer finds it ironically fitting that he gave Chris Martin the apt nickname of Pup despite that he is older than Matt by a year. This time, however, Chris sheepishly confessed to them that he can’t buy them anything from the bar since he used up his money that day to travel to Torquay by bus and buy a ticket to see their gig.  
   
Without thinking about the risks and taking pity for the older man, Matt offers him a seat in their already cramped van to drive him back to his home in Exeter. From that one act of kindness, it started something that spanned through the summer holidays.  
   
For the rest of the summer, whenever they have a show to perform somewhere, Matt asks if Chris is interested to join along for their gigs. Always, Chris says yes and sits next to Matt. Sometimes he even stops by Chris’ house to pick him up.  
   
They had problems at first. He and Chris would go into arguments where Matt wants to let him watch their performances for free while Chris insists on paying for his tickets because it is unfair and feels as though he is taking advantage of them. They eventually settled on a compromise, where Chris will use his money buy petrol for the car and drinks in the pubs and venues instead of paying for concert tickets.  
   
But it's not all that bad. Even with a temporary extra in the van, it was nice to have Chris accompany them to wherever their gigs are next, talking about their common interests and what they do in their lives, and helping them carry their equipment back and forth. From these trips, Chris provides them refreshing topics to talk about, from what his favourite type of music and musicians to what the music scene in Camden is like.  
   
Sometimes, after they have finished and are reluctant to go back to Exeter that early or there are some parties that Matt prefers to not go to, or just that Matt wants to have someone to hang out with him, Chris joins him to a nearby field or beach, sit down, and gaze at the stars on the sky. Matt can point out the stars that can be seen by the human naked eye such as Sirius, Polaris, Canopus, Altair, and Vega, while Chris creates some animals or people by connecting the bright stars to like dots.  
   
They bonded so quickly that it didn’t take long for Matt to notice a certain spark happening between them. They were gazing at stars on a beach somewhere one night in early September when they looked at each other and then they kissed, and it just feels wonderful and right and Matt keeps kissing him until they were breathless. When they looked at each other after that kiss, Matt could see that Chris is on the same wavelength as he is.  
   
From that one summer, Matt caught the heart of a Uni student studying in London, and a Devon boy to boot. In return, Chris had caught his heart too.  
   
It caught Matt by surprise that he was upset when Chris had to go back to London to start his second year. Even as Chris promised to him that he will come back on the weekends when he is free to spend time with him and go to his shows, it still felt horrible to Matt as it meant distance put them apart.  
   
The pain lessened eventually with time and seeing Chris come home to Exeter during the weekends. Sometimes he even comes to their shows on those weekends when there is one booked by the band. Unfortunately, he is limited by time and money to be able to do these in order to spend time with Matt, so Matt saw those times when Chris is with him as small windows and precious ones at that.  
   
He’s only nineteen, he reminds himself as he snaps back to present day reality thanks to the train announcing their arrival to Paddington Station. He’s too young to be cynical over optimistic matters like romance and love. He wants to enjoy that feeling before it might get crushed and ruined as he gets older, and Chris seems to be able to show romance and love to him.  
   
And this time around, he’s coming to spend time with Chris for once rather than the other way around. And he’ll do it again at the next opportunity given to him. It’s only fair that he comes to visit Chris too during his own available free time.  
   
He lifts up a duffel bag containing some clothes for the weekend stay and a case containing his acoustic guitar, and waits for the train to come to a stop. When he walks out of the train, Matt looks out at the crowd of people to find where Chris is. He finds him standing next to a disgruntled looking man, about as tall as Chris and might be his friend.  
   
Seeing Chris for the first time in a whole month, Matt’s body warms up and there is a happy bubbly feeling inside of him. He can see a bright smile on the taller man’s face as he waves at Matt to get his attention. There’s also something else within Matt that is tempting to do and the opportunity is right there for him to take.  
   
And so Matt decides to take it.  
   
He smirks, strides up to Chris in confidence, gives him a kiss on his cheek and says, “Hello, Pup.”  
   
The cough-wheezing sound that Chris’ friend makes sounds awfully like laughing. Chris’ face turns red, either from blushing at his pet name or wanting to be pissed off at his friend laughing at his given pet name.  
   
Still, it was worth it doing that to his boyfriend. The kiss that they share right after tells Matt that he is easily forgiven for his daring stunt.  
   
\-----  
   
Once introductions are made between Jonny and Matt, it is a relatively straightforward path of taking the bus back to Camden Town, dump the brunette’s bag and guitar in the flat, and then go to an Indian restaurant for something exotic and for Matt to meet Guy and Will there.  
   
It isn’t until it is close to midnight that they are finally back in the flat, a bit exhausted after time spent outside and hanging out with friends.  
   
“I hope you’re not that tired yet, because I want to show you something in my room,” Chris says to Matt, eager to show Matt what his bedroom has become. It’s the perfect timing to show it.  
   
“And you better damn well appreciate it since we helped!” Jonny says before he enters his bedroom and closes the door behind him.  
   
Matt, for his part, simply looks amused.  
   
“I want you to close your eyes before we enter my room,” Chris instructs.  
   
“It better not be something steamy that you got from Soho. But if it is, I'd rather just go right in,” Matt says that as he closes his eyes.  
   
“No, it isn’t that,” Chris chuckles, guiding Matt in and closing the door behind him. The room is pitch black with the blackout curtains, but Chris knows his surroundings even in the dark.  
   
Chris flicks the switches and the lights turned on. What he didn’t turn on is the main light in his bedroom, but rather the lights that Milosz did.  
   
“Okay, you can open your eyes now.”  
   
When he does, Matt is stunned.  
   
There are blue and white glowing paper stars all over the small room. Some stuck to the walls and ceiling, others hanging on wires and looking as though they are floating in midair at different heights. All of them are lit by LEDs inside of it to give the origami stars an ethereal appearance throughout the whole room. What gives the whole bedroom a spacelike atmosphere to match the glowing stars is that the room is painted in a dark blue colour.  
   
“We can’t go outside to do stargazing since we’re in London and it’s Winter, so I got my friends to help make these stars for you to see in London,” Chris explains, watching Matt’s face and movements.  
   
“You did this… all for me?” Matt asks, looking and walking around the room in amazement and touching the lighted paper stars. Chris nods. “Wow, it’s… amazing. It’s so amazing.”  
   
They sit down on the bed and look at the room. Matt in awe of the decorations and Chris proud of having accomplished something amazing to them all. It isn’t as amazing as gazing at real stars outside, but it has its own unique beauty in bringing handmade stars into the flat.  
   
In a small bedroom at a flat in 286 Camden Road, a young couple witnessed the most beautiful night in London.  
   
\-----  
   
The three days spanning the weekend is an interesting one. Jonny, Guy, and Will witnessed Chris acting like a lovesick puppy towards an equally infatuated Matt. The two of them are so close that they can easily ignore the rest of the world in favour of only the two of them together in their very own world.  
   
Twice, Jonny and his fellow flatmate Tim had to vacate the flat to give the two lovebirds some much deserved privacy and to save their own sanity from ever hearing whatever they do through the walls.  
   
The time that Matt spent over the weekend in London also provided Jonny, Guy, and Will time to observe what Matt is like to them. Physically, aside from possessing a pair of beautiful blue eyes that are deeper than Chris’, he looks like a scrawny rat and they can’t see it otherwise. Though admittedly, they themselves are not spared by puberty either in terms of looks. Personality wise, he’s shy and reserved but easygoing enough to talk and hang out with in pubs or rave parties. And a grateful person who, when he found out how they all did the decoration in Chris’ bedroom, thanked them for the surprise.  
   
It was Matt’s musical prowess that impressed them all.  
   
Matt has pulled his acoustic guitar to play for them to prove that, indeed, he is as good on playing in acoustic as he is on the recorded demo tape. He sounded even better than the demo tape when he picks up Chris’ electric guitar and played some covers and his own songs.  
   
What floored them all is when Matt nonchalantly tells them that he has a couple of hundred songs made so far, and only a select few have been recorded so far. That, and Muse has been playing in the scene long enough that, had they started or relocated the band to London, they would have garnered some serious attention from various record companies already.  
   
Overall, they see Matt as a decent if mischievous person who loves Chris very much. They see a small bloke who is very talented and serious about music like his best friends, and might wreak havoc to the world if their band can ever break out of Devon. From the stories that Matt told them about playing in a festival in France, it seems like they’re very eager to do so too.  
   
\-----  
   
On Sunday evening, Jonny and Guy greet Matt goodbye as Chris escorts him off to the train station. The two of them are pretty sure that they saw some paper stars in Matt’s hands before he leaves the flat.  
   
When Chris returns back to the flat more than an hour later, there’s this star struck and dreamy look on his face that looks as though he’d never wiped it off at all on the journey home from the station.  
   
“I think I’m going to be a keeper for him,” Chris says dreamily, like a man that’d struck gold in a mine and got more than just gold out of it.  
   
“He’s in over his head,” Jonny comments once Chris has gone back to his room.  
   
“Or maybe to him, he found his soulmate,” Guy says, having seen how Chris and Matt act to each other.  
   
“You believe in that soulmate bullshit?” Jonny scoffs.  
   
“Hey, when there are real life stories of two people who fall in love and stay together till the end of their lives, I can say that soulmates really do exist,” Guy counters back. “Who’s to say that we won’t be seeing Matt for years to come?”  
   
“I’ll believe it when there's an engraved invitation to their wedding,” Jonny sarcastically replies, since they both know that two men can't get married in England.  
   
“Hundred quid says they’ll really get married someday,” Guy smirks, knowing that the guitarist can’t resist such a bet.  
   
“Fine, a hundred quid says that they might not,” Jonny says, shaking Guy’s hand as an agreement.  
   
\-----  
   
**August 2014**  
   
Sixteen years, six albums, twelve EPs, and six tours later, Jonny has a disgruntled look on his face as he hands over two fifty pound notes to a smug Guy.  
   
He’s not sure which one he should be more surprised of: That the both of them still remember the wager they made during their Uni years or that it took sixteen years to witness same sex marriage to finally become legal in Britain and see Chris proposing to Matt.  
   
Neither of those can top the one that already did surprised Jonny. It is when Chris asked for their help on a little something before the wedding and the five of them -with Phil included this time- find themselves in a room, folding origami stars while Milosz -who has been working as Coldplay’s lighting engineer for more than a decade now- is at his own corner, setting up the wirings and LED lights to attach to the paper stars.  
  
Aside from a minor difference and his loss, it reminded Jonny of everything from the start, including the bet. Watching themselves doing something they did for Chris in their Uni years, and Chris describing to Phil as to how he wants the stars to be hung around as decorations in the wedding place and the reception, Jonny smiles along with the rest of the band.


End file.
